Interviews

Fight Night Round 2

GameSpy:Fight Night has a slew of improvements. Let's go down the laundry list. What's new with the control system?

Kudo Tsunoda:Fight Night's addictive gameplay is based on having great control of your character in game. In Fight Night 2004, the Total Punch Control gave you analog control over your fists in the game and changed boxing/fighting gameplay from mindless button mashing to tactics based on user skill and boxing tactics. But there were limitations.

One big one was not being able to control either the power or speed of your punches. This is something a boxer does in real life with each punch. For Fight Night Round 2, you can now add extra power to your punches with the EA Sports Haymaker. To throw a hook in Fight Night, you move the analog stick out to the right and then arc in forwards. You can now add extra power to your punch by cranking the analog stick back before arcing it forwards. The farther you crank it back, the more power added. This also means the punch takes longer to throw making it easier to counter or avoid.

We also have exponentially increased the amount of control you have over your boxer via the analog sticks. In last year's game, you could not move any two parts of your boxer's body at the same time. This meant you could not do simple things boxers do all the time in the ring, like punching and moving at the same time or blocking and moving. For Fight Night Round 2, you have total control over your entire boxer via our analog control system. You can stick and move, block and move, and even do the classic Ali "Rope-A-Dope."

Finally, one thing I did not like very much about our analog controls last year was how hard it was to combo using the analog punch stick. If you wanted to use the analog punches, you could not combo nearly as fast as somebody punching with buttons. For Fight Night Round 2 we have added a fast analog combo system, meaning now you throw successive punches just as fast on the analog sticks as you can with the buttons.

GameSpy: There are some new modes too, right? Like the cutman mode?

Kudo Tsunoda: The EA Sports cutman is one of my favorite new features this year. In any other boxing game, you get the same non-interactive movie of a trainer giving you advice between rounds. Whoopee!

For Fight Night Round 2 you are able to take control of the cutman between rounds and use his bucket of tools to reduce swelling and stop cuts on your boxer's face. You can stop cuts with an adrenaline-soaked cotton swab or whip out the endswell to reduce swelling. Plus, in multiplayer it gives you a great opportunity to talk some smack as your opponent is forced to repair the damage you just caused during the round. We also have added a bunch of new training games: a "Hard Hits" mode (based on old prison boxing league rules), and "My Gym," mode, where you can practice and hone your training regimen.